Arunachal Pradesh batsman Rahul Dalal was on the brink of making history as he ‘narrowly’ missed out on breaking VVS Laxman’s all-time Ranji Trophy record of scoring highest runs in a season.
While that records eludes him by 75 runs, as he completed the season with a massive 1340 runs for the Northeast state as against Laxman’s 1999-2000 season tally of 1415 runs, the Arunachal Pradesh wicketkeeper batsman still looks set to walk away with the honour of being the highest run-scorer in the 2019-20 season.
Rahul fell for 13 in Arunachal Pradesh’s 2nd innings against Meghalaya in Dibrugarh on February 14. His tally of 1340 runs is now the 2nd-highest ever in the tournament’s history surpassing Meghalaya’s last season hero Milind Kumar (1331).
However, Rahul won’t have any more chances of swelling his tally because Arunachal Pradesh haven’t been able to win a single match this season and thus are already out of the race for quarter-finals.
If Rahul finishes the current season as the top run-scorer, it will mark the second such feat in 2 years by a player from a Northeast team since the Lodha reforms added one team from each of the 7 regional states in the Ranji Trophy.
Rahul (28) was born in Faridabad and had made his first-class debut for Haryana in 2012.
Notably, the 1999-2000 season proved to be a breakthrough one for Laxman as he soon played the innings of his life with an incredible 281 at the Eden Gardens vs Australia – an innings which changed the face of Indian cricket for times to come.
